Pathophysiologic risk stratification of chronic heart failure: coexisting left atrial and right ventricular damage and the role of pulmonary circulation

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) the chronic increase of filling pressures progressively involves left atrium (LA), pulmonary circulation (PC) and right ventricle (RV), leading to worse outcome. Purpose we investigated the prognostic impact of either isolate LA impairment, RV dysfunction combined with pulmonary hypertension, or both, in HFrEF, using basic and advanced echocardiography. Methods 106 outpatients with HFrEF were enrolled. Exclusion criteria were primary lung disease, non-sinus rhythm, previous cardiac surgery, poor acoustic window. Clinical examination and basic echocardiography were performed. Speckle tracking analysis was used to measure peak atrial longitudinal strain (PALS) and a new marker of interaction between RV and PC: absolute free wall RV longitudinal strain(fwRVLS)/systolic pulmonary artery pressure(sPAP). Patients were followed for all-cause or cardiovascular death and heart failure (HF) hospitalization. Results of 84 eligible patients [mean age: 60.1 ± 11.5; 82% male, mean left ventricular ejection fraction (LV EF) 28 ± 5%], 48 reached the combined endpoint. Population was divided into 3 groups: Group 1 [PALS≥15 and fwRVLS/sPAP ≤ 0.5]; Group 2 [PALS ≤ 15 and fwRVLS/sPAP ≤ 0.5 or PALS≥15 and fwRVLS/sPAP≥0.5]; Group 3 [PALS ≤ 15 and fwRVLS/sPAP≥0.5]. Mean follow-up was 3.5 ± 0.3years. The increasing severity groups were associated with higher LA volume index (LAVI), New York Heart Association (NYHA) class, mitral regurgitation (MR) and tricuspid regurgitation (TR) grades, lower LV EF, LV global longitudinal strain (GLS), PALS, tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE), sPAP, fwRVLS and global RVLS(p < 0.0001). Reduced PALS and fwRVLS/sPAP were independent predictors of NYHA > 2 at univariate and multivariate analysis adjusted for age, sex, LV EF, and of any events with adjusted Cox models (Table 1). Kaplan-Meier curves showed a clear divergence between the groups for the prediction of the combined endpoint (Fig.1), cardiovascular death and HF hospitalization. Conclusions the combination of LA and RV damage could represent the transition point to end-stage HF, with considerably worse prognosis. Its assessment with PALS and fwRVLS/sPAP could help risk stratification of HFrEF patients in order to provide early treatment. Table 1 Unadjusted hazard ratio [95% CI] Adjusted for GLS hazard ratio [95% CI] Adjusted for GLS, LAVi, TR, RVFAC hazard ratio [95% CI] Group 3 vs 1 10.61 [4.16-27.06], p < 0.0001 10.24 [3.49-30.02], p < 0.0001 9.54 [2.95-30.92], p = 0.0002 Group 3 vs 2 3.90 [1.92-7.93], p = 0.0002 3.82 [1.74-8.36], p = 0.0008 3.78 [1.66-8.61], p = 0.002 Group 2 vs 1 2.72 [1.03-7.20], p = 0.04 2.69 [0.99-7.25], p = 0.05 2.53 [0.84-7.58], p = 0.1 CI, confidence interval; EF, ejection fraction; GLS, global longitudinal strain;LAVI, left atrial volume index; MR, mitral regurgitation, TR, tricuspid regurgitation Abstract Figure. Fig.

BIOGENIC AMINE CONTENT IN "PECORINO DEL PARCO DI MIGLIARINO - SAN ROSSORE"

Biogenic amines (BAs) can be naturally present in several foods. They are mainly produced in large amounts by amino acid decarboxylases activity of bacteria. The BAs content has been associated to the quality of raw material and to fermentation or spoilage processes. The aim of the present study was to asses the content of BAs (single and total value) in the core and in the external part of a Tuscan traditional pecorino cheese. Sixteen "Pecorino del Parco di Migliarino-San Rossore" cheeses belonging to same batch were tested during ripening time, up to 5 months. BAs content was analyzed by an HPLC-UV method. The BAs content was significantly higher in the core than in the external part. Tyramine was the amine most frequently detected and largely quantized, followed by putrescine, histamine and cadaverine

Characterization of a globin-coupled oxygen sensor with a gene-regulating function

Globin-coupled sensors (GCSs) are multiple-domain transducers, consisting of a regulatory globin-like heme-binding domain and a linked transducer domain(s). GCSs have been described in both Archaea and bacteria. They are generally assumed to bind O2 (and perhaps other gaseous ligands) and to transmit a conformational change signal through the transducer domain in response to fluctuating O2 levels. In this study, the heme-binding domain, AvGReg178, and the full protein, AvGReg of the Azotobacter vinelandii GCS, were cloned, expressed, and purified. After purification, the heme iron of AvGReg178 was found to bind O2. This form was stable over many hours. In contrast, the predominant presence of a bis-histidine coordinate heme in ferric AvGReg was revealed. Differences in the heme pocket structure were also observed for the deoxygenated ferrous state of these proteins. The spectra showed that the deoxygenated ferrous derivatives of AvGReg178 and AvGReg are characterized by a penta-coordinate and hexa-coordinate heme iron, respectively. O2 binding isotherms indicate that AvGReg178 and AvGReg show a high affinity for O2 with P50 values at 20 °C of 0.04 and 0.15 torr, respectively. Kinetics of CO binding indicate that AvGReg178 carbonylation conforms to a monophasic process, comparable with that of myoglobin, whereas AvGReg carbonylation conforms to a three-phasic reaction, as observed for several proteins with bis-histidine heme iron coordination. Besides sensing ligands, in vitro data suggest that AvGReg(178) may have a role in O2-mediated NO-detoxification, yielding metAvGReg(178) and nitrate. © 2007 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc

Thyroid cancer diagnosis by Raman spectroscopy

Over the last 50 years, the incidence of human thyroid cancer disease has seen a significative increment. This comes along with an even higher increment of surgery, since, according to the international guidelines, patients are sometimes addressed to surgery also when the fine needle aspiration gives undetermined cytological diagnosis. As a matter of fact, only 30% of the thyroid glands removed for diagnostic purpose have a post surgical histological report of malignancy: this implies that about 70% of the patients have suffered an unnecessary thyroid removal. Here we show that Raman spectroscopy investigation of thyroid tissues provides reliable cancer diagnosis. Healthy tissues are consistently distinguished from cancerous ones with an accuracy of ∼ 90%, and the three cancer typology with highest incidence are clearly identified. More importantly, Raman investigation has evidenced alterations suggesting an early stage of transition of adenoma tissues into cancerous ones. These results suggest that Raman spectroscopy may overcome the limits of current diagnostic tools

Surgical site infection after caesarean section. Space for post-discharge surveillance improvements and reliable comparisons

Surgical site infections (SSI) after caesarean section (CS) represent a substantial health system concern. Surveying SSI has been associated with a reduction in SSI incidence. We report the findings of three (2008, 2011 and 2013) regional active SSI surveillances after CS in community hospital of the Latium region determining the incidence of SSI. Each CS was surveyed for SSI occurrence by trained staff up to 30 post-operative days, and association of SSI with relevant characteristics was assessed using binomial logistic regression. A total of 3,685 CS were included in the study. A complete 30 day post-operation follow-up was achieved in over 94% of procedures. Overall 145 SSI were observed (3.9% cumulative incidence) of which 131 (90.3%) were superficial and 14 (9.7%) complex (deep or organ/space) SSI; overall 129 SSI (of which 89.9% superficial) were diagnosed post-discharge. Only higher NNIS score was significantly associated with SSI occurrence in the regression analysis. Our work provides the first regional data on CS-associated SSI incidence, highlighting the need for a post-discharge surveillance which should assure 30 days post-operation to not miss data on complex SSI, as well as being less labour intensive

All-sky search for short gravitational-wave bursts in the second Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo run

We present the results of a search for short-duration gravitational-wave transients in the data from the second observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. We search for gravitational-wave transients with a duration of milliseconds to approximately one second in the 32-4096 Hz frequency band with minimal assumptions about the signal properties, thus targeting a wide variety of sources. We also perform a matched-filter search for gravitational-wave transients from cosmic string cusps for which the waveform is well modeled. The unmodeled search detected gravitational waves from several binary black hole mergers which have been identified by previous analyses. No other significant events have been found by either the unmodeled search or the cosmic string search. We thus present the search sensitivities for a variety of signal waveforms and report upper limits on the source rate density as a function of the characteristic frequency of the signal. These upper limits are a factor of 3 lower than the first observing run, with a 50% detection probability for gravitational-wave emissions with energies of ∼10-9 Mc2 at 153 Hz. For the search dedicated to cosmic string cusps we consider several loop distribution models, and present updated constraints from the same search done in the first observing run

Search for Eccentric Binary Black Hole Mergers with Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo during Their First and Second Observing Runs

When formed through dynamical interactions, stellar-mass binary black holes (BBHs) may retain eccentric orbits (e > 0.1 at 10 Hz) detectable by ground-based gravitational-wave detectors. Eccentricity can therefore be used to differentiate dynamically formed binaries from isolated BBH mergers. Current template-based gravitational-wave searches do not use waveform models associated with eccentric orbits, rendering the search less efficient for eccentric binary systems. Here we present the results of a search for BBH mergers that inspiral in eccentric orbits using data from the first and second observing runs (O1 and O2) of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. We carried out the search with the coherent WaveBurst algorithm, which uses minimal assumptions on the signal morphology and does not rely on binary waveform templates. We show that it is sensitive to binary mergers with a detection range that is weakly dependent on eccentricity for all bound systems. Our search did not identify any new binary merger candidates. We interpret these results in light of eccentric binary formation models. We rule out formation channels with rates ⪆100 Gpc-3 yr-1 for e > 0.1, assuming a black hole mass spectrum with a power-law index ≲2

Search for intermediate mass black hole binaries in the first and second observing runs of the Advanced LIGO and Virgo network

Gravitational-wave astronomy has been firmly established with the detection of gravitational waves from the merger of ten stellar-mass binary black holes and a neutron star binary. This paper reports on the all-sky search for gravitational waves from intermediate mass black hole binaries in the first and second observing runs of the Advanced LIGO and Virgo network. The search uses three independent algorithms: two based on matched filtering of the data with waveform templates of gravitational-wave signals from compact binaries, and a third, model-independent algorithm that employs no signal model for the incoming signal. No intermediate mass black hole binary event is detected in this search. Consequently, we place upper limits on the merger rate density for a family of intermediate mass black hole binaries. In particular, we choose sources with total masses M=m1+m2ϵ[120,800] M and mass ratios q=m2/m1ϵ[0.1,1.0]. For the first time, this calculation is done using numerical relativity waveforms (which include higher modes) as models of the real emitted signal. We place a most stringent upper limit of 0.20 Gpc-3 yr-1 (in comoving units at the 90% confidence level) for equal-mass binaries with individual masses m1,2=100 M and dimensionless spins χ1,2=0.8 aligned with the orbital angular momentum of the binary. This improves by a factor of ∼5 that reported after Advanced LIGO's first observing run